The Diabetes Prevention Program was identified by the Chronic Disease Action Team as an action, that when combined with other actions in our community, that has a reasonable chance of making a difference in diabetes prevalence and weight status in our community. The Healthy NC 2020 Evidence Based Strategies lists the Diabetes Prevention Program as an evidence-based strategy. This is an ongoing program in our community.

The audience for the Diabetes Prevention Program are adults, age 18 years and older, with pre-diabetes and those who have multiple risk factors for diabetes. The Diabetes Prevention Program aims to make a difference at the individual change level-- working to increase individual's knowledge and influence over his or her attitudes and beliefs regarding diabetes prevention and weight loss. Implementation will take place in community or clinical settings, like Health Departments, the local library, physician's offices, and more.

The Diabetes Prevention Program targets health disparities. Often, residents of low SES are at greater risk of developing a chronic disease and being unable to manage said chronic disease. This program hopes to break that cycle by helping residents learn to manage their disease at low or no cost.

Pre-diabetes graphic developed by the CDC

The partners for DPP include:

Evaluation Plan:

We plan to evaluate the impact of the Diabetes Prevention Program through the use of Results-Based Accountability^TM to monitor specific performance measures. We will be monitoring How Much, How Well and/or Better Off Performance Measures.  Our evaluation activities will be tracked in the Work Plan table, above. 

Sustainability Plan:

The following is our sustainability plan for the Diabetes Prevention Program: 

• Use program performance measures to ensure ongoing effectiveness and demonstrate success
  • Evaluate the number of participants who start the program vs the number of participants who graduate from the class 
• Provide adequate staffing
  • Train additional lifestyle coach at the Health Department to improve sustainability efforts and decrease lifestyle coach burnout
• Increase community awareness on the issue & demonstrate the value of the program to the public
  • Submit articles to local media outlets about the risks of type 2 diabetes and the success of the local program 

2020 Updates

DPP Class: The 2020 year-long class kicked-off in January 2020, with a total of 10 participants.  The 2020 cohort was a partnership between the Jackson County Department of Public Health and the Department on Aging with class sessions hosted at the Senior Center.  Due to a series of inclement weather days, the class began later than usual and only 3 classes were able to be completed before the community shut down happened due to COVID-19.  Related to a series of barriers such as the lifestyle coaches opportunities working from home, poor internet access across the county, and the vulnerable population being served, the class has still not continued at this point.  

The JCDPH has worked closely with MountainWise to identify community champions for the Minorities Diabetes Prevention Program (MDPP).  Flyers were created and approved by the Cultural Humility and Social Diversity Team at the Health Department, and also translated by the interpreter.  Community champions were contacted and were interested, though no new lifestyle coaches have been trained.  It is our hope that these classes can be peer-led in the future with administrative support from JCDPH. 

Further, the JCDPH DPP has been accepted into the CDC-sponsored study of the Fresh Tri DPP, LCP, companion digital app.  The next cohort (beginning early 2021) will have access to this interactive lifestyle change app as part of a research study.  

2019 Updates

DPP Class: The 2019 year-long class has 9 participants.  Attendance has been great this year and folks are very engaged in the class.  The class wrapped up December 12th with all 9 participants completing and graduating from the class.  Of the 9, there were 6 who lost a significant percentage of their body weight (multiple lost over 9%).  

2018 Updates

DPP Class: The year-long class had 8 successful participants who completed the course.  The CDC recognition status still stands and we continue to submit data to be analyzed. 

2017 Updates

DPP Class: This year-long class was held from January 2017 - December 2017.  There were 11 participants in the program.  At the conclusion of the class, data was submitted to the CDC and the Jackson County Department of Public Health (JCDPH) achieved full CDC recognition for the program.  JCDPH is the first health department in North Carolina to achieve this status. 

2016 Updates

DPP Class: This year-long class ended in December 2016. Nine participants graduated. Each participant lost weight and lowered their HbA1c significantly. Data was submitted to the CDC with hopes of the Health Department receiving CDC recognition for this program.